Water main break reported in Hillcrest

Incident occurred on 5th Ave., near Pennsylvania

A 106-year-old water main ruptured underneath a busy Hillcrest thoroughfare Tuesday afternoon, flooding the street and adjacent businesses.

KGTV

Teeny Horne

Copyright 2013 Scripps Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

Copyright 2013 Scripps Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

SAN DIEGO - A 106-year-old water main ruptured underneath a busy Hillcrest thoroughfare Tuesday afternoon, flooding the street and adjacent businesses.

The failed cast-iron pipe began inundating the 3600 block of Fifth Avenue about 3 p.m. Witnesses reported that the roadway was soon beginning to cave in, creating a sinkhole.

Police officers closed a stretch of the street and sections of nearby roads while utility crews were en route to halt the flooding.

Repair workers had the overflow under control by shortly after 4 p.m., said Arian Collins, a spokesman for the San Diego Water Department.

The mishap flooded some nearby commercial structures, forced the closure of two blocks of Fifth Avenue and left five blocks of the north-south boulevard without functional plumbing, according to Collins.

Full repairs to the 20-inch-diameter water main -- installed in 1907 -- and the roadway were expected to be complete sometime Wednesday afternoon, he said.

Copyright 2013 by City News Service. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.